Monday news, part two:

Build the wooden train set of your childhood dreams in Tracks
http://www.pcgamer.com/build-the-wooden-train-set-of-your-childhood-dreams-in-tracks/
I was more of a Lincoln Logs kid, but I do remember the magic of assembling wooden train sets, sliding those little nubs together and hearing them clink around when you wiggle the track to test its strength. Tracks, the self-proclaimed premier wooden train set game, is all about that nostalgic creativity. It recently entered Steam Early Access and is currently on sale for $9. After October 5, it will cost $10, barring potential price increases following large updates.

Football Manager 2018 will feature a new graphics engine, better AI, and 'dynamics'
http://www.pcgamer.com/football-manager-2018-will-feature-a-new-graphics-engine-better-ai-and-dynamics/
We reported last month that Football Manager 2018, the somewhat popular soccer boss sim, will be out on November 10. Today, by way of a literal "fake news report," developer Sports Interactive has revealed a little bit about the changes players can look forward to in the new game.

Latest Star Citizen video shows off detailed animation system
http://www.pcgamer.com/latest-star-citizen-video-shows-off-detailed-animation-system/
I can't stop watching Star Citizen's 'Around the Verse' videos, which chronicle the development of this incredibly ambitious game. The latest looks at the animation system, and how players and NPCs will interact with usable objects in the game world.

>>For those of you that want to see the video, it's in the article.

Space combat game Allegiance blasts onto Steam 17 years after initial release
http://www.pcgamer.com/space-combat-game-allegiance-blasts-onto-steam-17-years-after-initial-release/
The seventeen-year-old multiplayer space combat game Allegiance has finally landed on Steam. It was initially launched by Microsoft Game Studios in 2000 and the source code released in 2008, after which players could play the game free online. The hope is that the Steam version, called Microsoft Allegiance, will attract more players and help the game live on.

Elite Dangerous clan becomes the first to destroy a Thargoid ship
http://www.pcgamer.com/elite-dangerous-clan-becomes-the-first-to-destroy-a-thargoid-ship/
It took a few days, but Elite Dangerous players have destroyed their first Thargoid vessel. It comes after the mysterious aliens began attacking player-controlled pilots after update 2.4, called The Return. Early reports suggested that the Thargoid ships had weaponry that could rip you apart in seconds—but pilots have now found a way to take them down.

Jeff Kaplan opens up about how 'scary and intimidating' the Overwatch community can be
http://www.pcgamer.com/jeff-kaplan-opens-up-about-the-occasionally-scary-and-intimidating-overwatch-community/
Overwatch director Jeff Kaplan's latest blog post is a revealing read. In it, he details the difficulties his team face when communicating with players on the game's forum pages, which include being "personally attacked and threatened" by fans.

Grimrock-inspired dungeon crawler Vaporum is out now
http://www.pcgamer.com/grimrock-inspired-dungeon-crawler-vaporum-is-out-now/
Vaporum, out now, is not shy about its inspirations: it boasts that it's in the ilk of "old-school games like Dungeon Master I and II, the Eye of the Beholder series, and Legend of Grimrock I and II". The Grimrock comparison seems especially apt because Vaporum is a pretty dungeon crawler with grid-based, real-time combat that happens in first person.

Gwent update launches Ale Festival event and makes cards more flexible
http://www.pcgamer.com/gwent-update-launches-ale-festival-event-and-makes-cards-more-flexible/
The latest update to the Witcher-based competitive card game Gwent lifts the curtain on the game's first holiday event, the Mahakam Ale Festival, and makes more than 40 cards in the game 'agile', which means they can be placed on any row on the game board.

Hell Let Loose, the WW2 shooter promising 100-player battles, launches Kickstarter campaign
http://www.pcgamer.com/hell-let-loose-the-ww2-shooter-promising-100-player-battles-launches-kickstarter-campaign/
Hell Let Loose caught Andy's eye earlier this year with its promise of realistic platoon-based World War II shooting and vehicle combat combined with strategy elements, including resources and airstrikes that can be called in from off the map. Developer Black Matter has now launched a Kickstarter campaign, aiming to raise AU$136,000 (roughly $106,000/£80,000) before the end of this month.

Mutating dungeon crawler Freaky Awesome squirms out this month
http://www.pcgamer.com/mutating-dungeon-crawler-freaky-awesome-squirms-out-next-month/
Mandragora was the developer behind Skyhill, a 2015 turn-based survival game in which Chris enjoyed dying repeatedly. Now the studio has announced a release date for their second title, a top-down action 'rogue-lite' in the vein of The Binding of Isaac called Freaky Awesome. It's out on October 18.

HTC brings post-apocalyptic world to new Vive owners with Fallout 4 VR bundle
http://www.pcgamer.com/htc-brings-post-apocalyptic-world-to-new-vive-owners-with-fallout-4-vr-bundle/
HTC earlier this summer dropped the price of its Vive VR headset to $600 to make it more competitive with the Oculus Rift's also recently-reduced pricing. Now HTC is upping the ante by bundling Fallout 4 VR, a $60 value, with new Vive purchases.

Chucklefish on Wargroove's ambitious branching narratives and mod support
http://www.pcgamer.com/were-making-a-tool-as-much-as-a-game-says-chucklefish-on-wargrooves-ambitious-branching-narratives-and-mod-support/
When Evan caught up with Wargroove at PAX last month, Chucklefish's community manager Tom Katkus outlined how branching narratives will affect individual playthroughs. After visiting the developer at its London headquarters, Samuel discovered how player-created mods will affect the game's outcomes further still.

Stupid double post. Let's fill it with something:

If they say so...

Tuesday news:

SALES & "SALES"/DEALS

World War Two RTS Divided We Fall launches on Steam, free to play until Thursday
http://www.pcgamer.com/world-war-two-rts-divided-we-fall-launches-on-steam-free-to-play-until-thursday/
Divided We Fall is a Second World War RTS—"a strategic close-combat multiplayer game that emphasizes the importance of building an effective cohesive squad and executing well thought-out tactics on the battlefield," is how the developers describe it on Steam—that launched on Steam Early Access in September 2016. Today it went into full release, and to celebrate the big moment developer Kava Game Studio is making it free to play until Thursday.

If that's not enough, there are 374 more deals at Steam this week. Among them:

• Car Mechanic Simulator 2018 is 15% off: http://store.steampowered.com/app/645630/Car_Mechanic_Simulator_2018/
• Sailaway - The Sailing Simulator is 25% off: http://store.steampowered.com/app/552920/Sailaway__The_Sailing_Simulator/
• The "relaxing" (their tag) platformer Refunct can be your at half its price: http://store.steampowered.com/app/406150/Refunct/
• Submerged has an insane 90% discount: http://store.steampowered.com/app/301860/Submerged/

Also, there's a new sale at the Humble Store, the The Best for Less Sale, where you'll be able to find several big indie games like Wasteland 2 or Kerbal Space Program (which no longer qualifies as indie, but who cares) for up to 75% less.

SOFTWARE

Battle.net may soon support Discord-style groups and—hallelujah!—an 'appear offline' option
http://www.pcgamer.com/battlenet-may-soon-support-discord-style-groups-andhallelujahan-appear-offline-option/
Steam does all kinds of stuff—some of it is interesting, some of it is kind of useless, but altogether it adds up to a very full-featured, robust digital distribution platform and quasi social network. Battle.net, on the other hand, is mainly that thing you just have to fire up so you can play Overwatch. It's fine for what it is, it just never feels like it's bringing much to the party.
Blizzard may soon be aiming to change that, however, as MMO-Champion has published what it says is a series of "group strings," icons, and avatars that it discovered in a recent update of the Battle.net client.

MODS/EMULATORS

Divinity: Original Sin 2 – New modding tutorial video shows how you can create your first level
http://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/divinity-original-sin-2-new-modding-tutorial-video-shows-how-you-can-create-your-first-level/
Larian Studios has shared a new modding tutorial video in which the developers show how you can create your first level and place it into your GM campaign or onto Steam Workshop. As you may have guessed, Divinity: Original Sin 2 fully supports mods and according to the team, there are currently over 500 mods for it on Steam Workshop.

The Witcher 3 – New mod overhauls its grass to look closer to the pre-downgraded E3 version
http://www.dsogaming.com/news/the-witcher-3-new-mod-overhauls-its-grass-to-look-closer-to-the-pre-downgraded-e3-version/
Modder ‘Boostin4kix’ has released a new mod for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt that overhauls its grass. According to the modder, this mod changes the grass types for White Orchard, Velen, and Skellige, and shared some images to showcase the new grass textures.

>>You can download this mod from Nexus mods.

First HD Texture Pack for NieR: Automata is now available (alpha version)
http://www.dsogaming.com/news/first-hd-texture-pack-for-nier-automata-is-now-available-alpha-version/
As we’ve already claimed in our PC Performance Analysis, NieR: Automata suffers from a lot of low-resolution textures. Thankfully, this may change in the near future as Steam member ‘GPUnity’ is currently working on the first HD texture pack for it. And while this pack is still in alpha stage, GPUnity has released a version of it to the public.

>>To make this mod work, you'll need Fix Automata Resolution mod, and this is the download link to the mod.

SkyUI launched for Skyrim Special Edition
http://www.pcgamer.com/skyui-launched-for-skyrim-special-edition/
Since the launch of Skyrim Special Edition, thousands of user-made mod creators have updated their projects to handle the jump from the original game. The Skyrim Script Extender finally entered its alpha phase last month, and now SkyUI has launched an "unsupported alpha version for testing."

>>You can download this mod from here.

GAMING NEWS

Hawken’s Steam servers are being shut down, game to be removed from Steam on January 2nd
http://www.dsogaming.com/news/hawkens-steam-servers-are-being-shut-down-game-to-be-removed-from-steam-on-january-2nd/
Hawken Entertainment has announced that it is shutting down the Steam servers for Hawken in order to refocus its development efforts. The game’s DLCs will be removed today from Steam, and the game itself will be removed from Steam on January 2nd, 2018.

Star Wars Battlefront 2 gets an official trailer dedicated to its upcoming open beta phase
http://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/star-wars-battlefront-2-gets-an-official-trailer-dedicated-to-its-upcoming-open-beta-phase/
Electronic Arts and DICE have released a new trailer dedicated to Star Wars: Battlefront 2’s upcoming open beta phase. The open beta phase will begin on October 6th and will last until October 9th. As its name suggests, it will be open to everyone.

Star Wars: Battlefront 2 2005 – Multiplayer functionalities restored, supports cross-play between Steam & GOG
http://www.dsogaming.com/news/star-wars-battlefront-2-2005-multiplayer-functionalities-restored-supports-cross-play-between-steam-gog/
Now here is a pleasant surprise. GOG has announced that the 2005 version of Star Wars: Battlefront 2, the critically acclaimed shooter of massively entertaining warfare, has received a critical update. This update restores multiplayer functionalities and allows cross-play between the GOG and the Steam versions.

WWE 2K18 won’t be plagued by paid micro-transactions
http://www.dsogaming.com/news/wwe-2k18-wont-be-plagued-by-micro-transactions/
In a day and age where every God damn full priced game features micro-transactions, it’s quite refreshing hearing that a new title won’t be using them. The team behind WWE 2K18 has announced that the game won’t be plagued by micro-transactions.

New anti-cheating tool coming to the PC version of Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 this Wednesday
http://www.dsogaming.com/news/new-anti-cheating-tool-coming-to-the-pc-version-of-dragon-ball-xenoverse-2-this-wednesday/
Bandai Namco has announced that it will release a new anti-cheating tool for the PC/Steam version of Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 this Wednesday. What’s really cool here is that despite Bandai Namco’s previous claims of supporting the game for six months, the game is still being supported (almost a year after release).

First PC patch for FIFA 18 is now available, improves goalkeepers & goal net animations
http://www.dsogaming.com/news/first-pc-patch-for-fifa-18-is-now-available-improves-goalkeepers-goal-net-animations/
EA Sports has released the first patch for the PC version of FIFA 18. According to the release notes, this patch tunes goalkeeper reactions in certain situations, tunes down the difficulty for Amateur and Semi-Pro difficulties, and reduces shot accuracy and slightly increased goalkeeper reaction times in certain in-game situations.

Tuesday news, a quite short part two:

Witcher gameplay video from the '90s pops up on YouTube
http://www.pcgamer.com/witcher-gameplay-video-from-the-90s-pops-up-on-youtube/
There are few bigger and more satisfying videogame success stories than that of The Witcher: A tiny studio nobody had ever heard of turns a local sex machine/monster hunter into an international superstar, and builds itself into a world-beating industry heavyweight in the process. But long before CD Projekt worked its magic, another studio you've probably never heard of (headed by a guy you likely have) was taking its own crack at it.

South Park: The Fractured But Hole wants your fart in game
http://www.pcgamer.com/south-park-the-fractured-but-hole-wants-your-fart-in-game/
South Park: The Fractured But Whole is a far better RPG than the first, so reckons our Samuel. And now it wants to include your very own fart in-game. Yes, really.

>>konnichiwa made a thread about it.

Code Vein teases more demon-slaying Souls-like in-game footage
http://www.pcgamer.com/code-vein-teases-more-demon-slaying-souls-like-in-game-footage/
There's an argument to be made that the Souls-like label needs to die—but the latest in-game footage to surface of Shift and Bandai Namco's Code Vein looks a look like anime Dark Souls.

Does anyone have any idea what the 1.5gb patch update was for Dragon's Dogma?. a few claim it's updated textures, but I can't find any actual patch notes to support that claim.

Are there any big box PC game collectors here? Do you have any suggestions for someone like me who is maybe interested in starting a collection?

I haven't seen anything about it, sorry.

There are some guys on this forum with some very big collections on Steam (I'm talking about 500+ games), but I think most of them just have a favorite genre or genres and buy lots of games of that kind.

Also, it's important to buy the games you think you would enjoy, not the games people tell you that are fun. I'd never buy an horror game, for example, no matter how good it is.

I was looking into getting DOS games myself, but I'll have to get more acquainted with DOSbox before I do that!!

Well, I can't help you with that .

I guess I'll just have to watch some tutorial videos then.